Venomous
by Firesong's Mirror
Summary: I hunt. I am the nameless one who is feared in all the lands. And I kill. I am known for my claws of poisoned yew. That will never change. Short multi-chap.
1. Chapter 1

Slowly, slowly. That almost always did the trick. Most hunters moved too fast, alerting their prey, allowing it to escape into the safety of its shelter. It was near-impossible to reach from there. Especially if it had allies, friends, comrades, even more so if it was in a Clan.

The black and white tom that I was tracking was a member of FireClan, according to my source. He had killed someone's mate, and that someone wanted vengeance. That someone would also pay dearly in herbs and pretty stones. I disliked killing Clan cats simply because that forced me to move on to another cluster of Clans, somewhere else, until the mysterious death was all but forgotten. I was used to travelling from one group of Clans to another, from one mountain with two Tribes to another with five, from the ancestral territory of the Lynx Dynasty to that of the Wolf Dynasty. But it was tiresome, that was certain. And the more I travelled, the less I got to stay in my recluse, a small cave next to a stream on the White Mountain, decorated with stones and shards of something the Flat-faces called glass.

The tom stopped. I stopped too. Was he sniffing the air? Did he sense my presence? I checked the direction of the wind and reassured myself that I was downwind of him. He would not know I was here until it was too late.

He shrugged, and turned his back to me, continuing down the path. The leaves cast shadows on his fur. My tail twitched, just once.

I leaped, and he didn't resist. All the could manage was a startled yowl before my yew-stained claws were pressed to his neck.

Blood spilled onto fur, darkened by shadows of leaves on the trees of the forest of FireClan territory. I gazed coldly, emotionlessly, on the nameless tom who was dying before my very eyes.

"Who - who are you?" he managed to gasp out as his life blood trickled onto the ground.

I tilted my head, considering. Was he asking for a name, or for my occupation? Maybe he thought I was another Clan cat?

After a few moments of silence, I eventually settled for "Your killer."

"What's y-your name?" His eyes looked directly into mine: they were neither confused, nor angry, nor scared. He wasn't even accusing me. All he wanted to know was my name.

"Why?"

"Because," he panted, "I want to know who t-to look for when I - I join MoonClan."

I actually laughed out loud at that one. "MoonClan? Ha! You actually believe in those kit stories? MoonClan don't exist, mousebrain, because if it did, then StarClan, and the Tribe of Endless Hunting, and the Tribe of Shining Skies, and all those ancestors would exist too, and I know for a fact that they don't!"

He wisely didn't argue. "What's your n-name?" he repeated instead.

"I have no name," I answered shortly, my laughter dying in my throat.

"Make one up." His breathing was short, and raspy. He would die very, very soon. I stepped back, delicately avoiding touching the pool of blood.

"Fine." I decided I'd humor him, because why not. What should my name be? It was a good question. A cat like me, who killed for fun and for payment, deserved an appropriately sinister name. But I didn't want to take something hideously overused, like Night, or Moon, or Shadow. I needed something original.

I closed my eyes to aid my concentration, and thought of how I hunted. Perhaps Hunter? No, too plain. But then what could it be? I could choose something nice and bright, like Sunny or Flower or Willow, as a paradox to my personality, but the idea seemed stupid. It was overused, too, anyways. I'd heard of more cat-killers around with names like that. I distinctly remembered one named Holly.

So... something else, then. Not anything to do with the night, nor a plant. Maybe an animal? But what kind of animal did I represent? Eagle and Hawk immediately came to mind... but I wasn't fierce and proud. I was more sneaky and silent, carefully slithering around, striking down my enemies...

A snake! Yes, that seemed to fit. I nodded to myself, comparing my personality with that of an adder. It was perfect. But should I just name myself Snake, or after some particular snake? No... what other names were there for snakes? Snake. Adder. Cobra. Serpent.

"Serpent." That was... lovely, I was surprised to realise. The name felt cool and familiar, hissing gently as it left my tongue.

"Serpent," I meowed again, and my eyes flew open. "My name is Serpent."

But the tom was already dead.

* * *

I returned to the brown tabby tom on whose orders I'd killed the black and white tom. He gave me a pretty pink stone, shaped like a lilypad, and a nice fat hare. I thanked him and left, never letting my eyes stray from him as I left his den. I wouldn't put it past him to attack me, to cover up loose ends in case anyone investigated who'd killed the FireClan tom, or maybe just because he enjoyed killing as much as I did.

Well... I didn't really _enjoy _killing, not in the way some cats enjoyed hunting with their mates or eating tasty thrushes. I merely found it to be an exercise that was much more interesting and challenging that simply hunting stupid mice and voles, which were always so much easier to catch. Cats were smart, and they posed a threat. Therefore, I killed cats.

On my way back to White Mountain, which would take a few sunrises to get to, I stopped at a stream and washed the yew juice off my claws. It wouldn't do to eat prey that had poison in it.

Before I had a name, that was how I was identified. I knew that I was secretly feared in every Clan or Tribe or Dynasty that knew of me, that I was a terror that mothers told their kits stories about, when the more level-headed warriors that didn't believe in Yew Claw had their backs turned. To many cats, I was just a story, the Yew Claw, who stalked dreams and turned them into nightmares. Some of them just wrote my kills off as snakes or foxes. Some thought that different cats did it each time. Paranoid ones, like elders or queens, believed that I was a Dark Forest cat come back to haunt the territories.

Only a few, according to the many cats that asked me to make a kill, really suspected who I was, just a normal cat who was exceptionally gifted at stalking.

And killing.

But now, things had changed. It was an almost imperceptible change, but it was a change, all the same. I had a name, now, and I wanted to use it. I wanted to spread fear, and knowledge of my existence. I didn't want to be just a story about a nameless cat with poisoned claws. I wanted to be a real threat, and I wanted to be known. After all, that would make the kills even more challenging. And fun.

I successfully completed my journey back to White Mountain, and placed the pink pebble next to another pink pebble, and between two black ones. There; that completed the cat's nose. Only the whiskers left, now.

The next day, a loner came to find me. He was a small black tom, but had deadly white claws to match mine. They were very hooked and very, very sharp. I decided to never take my eyes off them if I could help it. He looked like he was fast.

"Salutations," I mewed politely. "How can I help you?"

"I need you to kill someone," he answered.

I remained silent.

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

"I'm waiting for you to greet me, ask me properly, tell me whose life you 'need' me to end, and name your price," I informed him.

His head tilted to his left. "What if I'm here to kill you?"

"What does that have to do with your last statement?"

"Fair point," he conceded. "Very well. Greetings, I am -"

"No!" I interrupted, my fur starting to bristle. "You _never _give your name, otherwise if they capture me and torture me, it may slip out, and they will find you!"

"I have faith in you," the tom answered coolly. "Besides, how do you know I'm giving you my real name?"

I had to acknowledge his thinking.

"Exactly. Now. Greetings, I am Spider, I'd like you to please kill a cat in FireClan, and my price is a piece of my territory," he meowed confidently.

"I have no need of territory. I take what I want, regardless of who lives here," I replied dismissively. "But, if you don't mind, I'd like thirty small, pure white pebbles."

"But - _why?"_

I gestured with my tail to the mosaic resting, uncompleted, on the ground behind me. "I'm making a picture, if you will. It really doesn't concern you, but I need thirty pebbles to complete the whiskers."

The tom shrugged. "Fine. I can give them to you, easy. So are you willing to take the job?"

"Well..." The fact that my new kill would also be in FireClan could be a bit problematic. They would be alert to the presence of a murderer. But that would make the kill more interesting... "I'll do it."

"Excellent. Do you require any yew berries?"

The question caught me off guard. "What? Why?"

"You _are _the Yew Claw," he mowed with amusement.

"My name is Serpent." Ah, it was so pleasant to say the name I never had... "For I kill like a snake."

He nodded slowly, surprise evident on his face, and by his twitching tail. "Serpent. It... suits you, I suppose."

"It does," I agreed, standing up. "Well, let's go, then."

"Where?"

"To FireClan territory, of course! Don't you need to point the cat out to me?"

"Oh, right." The black tom gestured with his paw for me to step forward. "Ladies first."

My eyes narrowed with suspicion. "No, thank you. I am the host."

"After you. I insist."

Should I go past? Seasons of killing had taught me to never turn my back on another cat, as that was the most efficient way to fulfill a death wish... but this tom seemed trustworthy, didn't he? He didn't smell strange, he seemed to be outgoing and easy to be around, and he certainly wasn't the type to kill, or else he wouldn't have come to me.

With some reluctance, I walked past him, keeping him in sight from the corner of my eye. He made no movement, and I relaxed slightly, turning my focus to keeping my balance on the uneven rocks that were partially blocking the entrance.

There was the rustle of fur on stone. Too late, I turned around, in time to have a claw pressed to my throat. The tom's glittering amber eyes were barely a whisker-length from my nose.

"Foolish she-cat," he hissed softly. "Serpent of FireClan was my brother."


	2. Chapter 2

My mind froze. What? Serpent of _FireClan? _I had killed my own namesake...? But - Clan cats had two parts to their name! He _couldn't _be named Serpent...

"That's impossible," I whispered. "You're lying."

Spider chuckled coldly. "Lying? I know who you are, _Serpent, _and I know that your claws of yew killed my brother. I could smell the juice mixed in with his wound. So I tracked your scent, killed some brown tom who I'm guessing gave you your assignment, and then followed you here. It was almost _painfully _simple. I'm surprised you're not dead yet."

I flicked my eyes towards where his paw was still pressed to my throat. Aha - he wasn't holding me down correctly. If I timed it just right, I could throw him off, and escape with only a shallow cut. But I had to distract him first.

"Clan cats can't have only one part to their name," I mewed conversationally. "So Serpent, whoever that is, can't be a FireClan cat."

"FireClan cats don't follow the tradition of giving their cats two-part names," Spider replied. His steely gaze didn't leave my eyes. "I wasn't lying, as you probably suspected, when I said that my name was Spider. And since you're so woefully ignorant of FireClan ways, you are also unaware that when someone kills one of our cats, they are repaid in _blood._"

"Yeah, right," I had to scoff. "If that was true, I'd be dead ten times already."

"Is that how many of our cats you've killed?" Spider's voice was dangerously low. I could tell he was starting to get angry - anger was a distraction. Good.

"Did I say that?" I asked innocently.

"You -" But I didn't let him finish the sentence. With a snarl, I thrust my hind paws out and twisted my neck at the same time, so that when his claws left my fur, they only tore my skin a little - hardly the death wound he was hoping for. Quick as a snake, I was back on my feet, my tail lashing, and ready to kill this impertinent tom. How dare he try to murder me, the most fearsome killer in all the lands? He had definitely bit off more than he could chew.

Spider skidded clumsily on the stone floor, losing a few precious seconds that I could've used to end his life. I _should've _used them. But something stopped me for that crucial moment - my mind was working too slowly - and then he was scrambling to his feet, teeth bared.

"You shouldn't have tried to kill me," I growled. "You will pay for your insolence with your life."

He gave a short, harsh laugh. "Hah! You don't scare me, nameless she-cat. I don't even want to kill you, except that you're a menace to the Clans. It's my duty as a _warrior of FireClan _to protect them with my life. That is how our code is structured."

I shook my head slowly. "I will kill you whether you like it or not. It's only a shame that I didn't get those pebbles."

"Oh, and another thing." Spider gave me a curious look, the snarl slipping off his face as quickly as it appeared. "Why do you kill for _pebbles? _I mean, I'd think you wanted some territory, or free prey, or something... but _pebbles?"_

A growl rose up from my throat. "Don't question my motives."

He scoffed. "Why not?" Without waiting for an answer, he turned and padded back inside my cave. I followed hesitantly, too confused to kill him (yet). What was he going to do?

"So what's this picture of, anyways?" Spider had stopped in front of my mosaic. I padded around it so that I stood across from him, looking at the picture upside down. It didn't matter. I knew it by heart.

A tawny cat stared at me; its narrowed yellow eyes seemed to follow me as I leaned slightly to the left, then to the right. It was sitting upright with its tail curled over its paws, glimmers of white claws barely visible (made by tiny fragments of glass). There were black rings around its legs, tail, neck, and eyes; white spots were visible on its belly. Overall, the cat had an air of wary poise, not threatening but not relaxed either.

The mosaic had taken me eight seasons to complete. After all that time, the cat's gaze still stabbed into me like an icy thorn, a constant reminder of the guilt that hardened my heart.

"My mate died at the paws of your precious _Clans. _It took cats from FireClan, WaterClan, the Tribe of Flowering Trees, and even the Lynx Dynasty, all combined, to catch him and kill him," I mewed emotionlessly. "It was my fault he died. If I hadn't -" I choked up on the words.

"Is that why you kill cats?" Spider asked quietly.

"I'm just returning the favour," I spat. "He was my life, and this is my last tribute to him."

He shook his head slowly. "You know what? You've convinced me. You really have. You're just insane. The death of this random cat whom I've never even heard about drove you crazy, made you start making a picture, and convinced you to kill random cats for fun and _pebbles._"

"I'm not crazy!"

"Yes, you are. And you're obsessed. Which is why -" his voice broke slightly - "I'm repaying you for killing my brother, not by ending your own life, but by destroying everything you seem to believe in."

"NO!" I lunged at him, just barely avoiding crushing the pebbles of the mosaic's head. But Spider had already brought his paw down, scattering hundreds of little pebbles, and shattering many of the fragile stones into tiny, tiny pieces.


	3. Chapter 3

Even as my claws sank into Spider's fur, and my teeth ripped into whatever skin they could find, I felt empty. My vision was clouded with red, like the mist of the rising sun, and I couldn't find it in me to care.

Dimly, I perceived that he was yowling something. There was a stinging sensation on my shoulder, and drips of blood made my fur wet. My tail was yanked suddenly, and I growled fiercely, my vision clearing a little. _I was going to KILL this tom. And I would leave his body for the vultures to pick at, because that's all he deserved. _The venomous thoughts gave me a grim pleasure. Inside me, something had shattered along with the memory of my mate, but my killing spirit, my oath of hatred and blood, remained intact as a cold core of darkness.

"Stop!" Spider's yowl finally broke through my unresponsive ears. I blinked, and the red haze cleared as suddenly as it had appeared. I had my claws pressed to his neck, with blood bubbling from under my paw pads. His eyes were wide with shock and fear, and I realised that he was scratching at me violently, in vain; my grip was as hard as ice.

"Why would I stop?" I hissed, bending closer so that my whiskers almost brushed his. "You ruined my last memory of my mate. For that, you will die."

"I'm not afraid of death," he meowed, the calm tone in sharp contrast with his terrified eyes. "I did all the Clans a favour. Now, maybe you'll stop terrorizing them with your venomous claws, you snake."

"Serpent," I corrected almost absently. His eyes were so cold, and dark, like the bottom of a lake. Brown mixed with blue... so different from my mate's. "And why aren't you afraid of death? Your life will end. You'll never see your Clan again..."

"But I'll see my brother," Spider said. "Because I believe in MoonClan."

I shook my head slowly. "Fool. MoonClan doesn't exist, and your soul will vanish once I end your life. Goodbye, Spider."

"Wh-" His words were cut short as I sliced through his neck, and even more blood pooled at my paws. The cave floor was stained, grey and red. So red... how would I ever clean it out? But it didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered. Spider had ended everything for me, and I ended him in turn.

I padded away, ignoring the sounds of a tom thrashing in vain, trying to prolong his miserable existence for a little longer. The sun was rising, and it was quite beautiful, in stark contrast to the gruesome sight behind me. I breathed in the fresh air, feeling strangely hollow. Another death, so what? I had killed so many times before. Why did this one leave me strangely drained, and empty?

Then it hit me. _He believed in an afterlife. He was not afraid of death._ It was like Serpent, my unknowing namesake, who only wanted to know my name before he passed on. His death had not been as fun as I'd hoped, because he showed no fear. Cursed toms. _MoonClan, yeah right..._

The sun shone. I closed my eyes, and tears poured down my cheeks. _Sand. Oh, I'm so sorry. I failed you by letting you die, and now I'm failing you by breaking my promise, to continue your noble work. _I had never ended a single life before that fateful night. But he had made me swear to avenge his death, not knowing that it was my fault that they had found him. _"Kill every cat who dares to believe," _yes, those were his exact words. He had hated the Clans, and the Tribes, and the Dynasties, and for eight seasons, I had fulfilled his dying wish. But what was the point of killing if his last legacy was gone, and I had nothing left to live for?

And I prayed for forgiveness, both from Sand, whom I had failed, and from Spider, for killing him when he had not lost faith in hope.


	4. Chapter 4

I never looked back as I began the long trek to the nameless mountain that housed the Tribe of Flowering Trees and the Tribe of Fallen Autumn. As far as I know, Spider's decaying corpse is still being picked on by vultures and crows, a half-moon's time of travel away. I no longer care. The White Mountain, haunted by ghosts, is no place for a broken she-cat like me.

Why the nameless mountain? I suppose I needed a change in scenery. I couldn't stand bare rocky slopes because they reminded me too much of my old cave, and forests were out because they looked like FireClan territory. The two Tribes live on the giant plateau at the top of the mountain, on which rests a tiny peak, barely taller than a good-sized oak tree. Despite the high elevation, the grass is lush and there are several streams crisscrossing the plateau. I haven't preyed on those peaceful cats in a while, either, although that was hardly why I was returning to the Tribe of Fallen Autumn.

I wasn't sure yet, but I think I would give up killing forever. For some reason, the thought of sinking poisoned claws into another cat's throat makes me sick. There is too much blood on my fur, blood that I need to clean off before I can shake off the past - if I even can.

The days passed in a blur. Skirting Twoleg towns, hunting for scrawny mice and rats, travelling through meadow and forest and across Thunderpath until my pads were sore and bleeding. I met a few cats, but they steered clear, probably thinking I was some old queen wandering around aimlessly. Maybe even a bit odd in the head. Who knew? I sure felt like that sometimes.

Finally, I arrived at the craggy hills that lined the base of the nameless mountain. (They should really give it a name because "nameless mountain" is quite a mouthful, even in my thoughts...) From here, it was a nearly vertical climb up steep cliffs, with ledges and loose rocks and all the stuff that could kill an unwary cat. There was a reason that the Tribes of Flowering Trees and Fallen Autumn were so isolated that they never had problems with loners _or _rogues _or _Twolegs _or _pretty much anything else from the Great Outside.

It took me a whole day of climbing, but I finally made it to the top. Where I was greeted by a patrol from the Tribe of Fallen Autumn - I recognised them immediately by their crushed-pine-needle scent.

"Hello there," the first cat, a pearly grey tom with sky-blue eyes meowed to me. He was flanked by a lithe golden she-cat and two scrawny black toms, probably to-bes.

"Greetings," I replied in a soft hiss. My breathing was ragged, and I was tired from the climb; for the first time, I realised that I was getting on in years, but for some reason the thought didn't scare me as much as it should have. "I am Serpent, and I have come to seek sanctuary with the Tribe of Fallen Autumn."

The golden she-cat stepped forward and regarded me with an icy gaze. "You smell like blood," she mewed flatly. "I don't know how you found us, but we do not take murderers."

I bowed my head, too tired and ashamed to deny it. It must have been Spider's blood she smelled; I hadn't bothered to wash it off.

"Is it true?" The grey tom's voice was a lot harsher than it was at first. "Have you killed cats?"

"It was the greatest mistake of my life," I whispered. "Please, I have nowhere to go. Will you give me sanctuary?"

There was a pause. I dared to look up from my dirty, matted white chest fur, and I met the green eyes of one of the to-bes. He was giving me a look of mixed horror and fascination. _Did he think murdering was something I could be looked up for? _The thought made me sick, and I swayed gently on the spot.

The motion must have softened the grey tom a little, because his voice became warmer. "I'm sorry, Serpent, but we cannot house murderers - we have no way of knowing if you've really changed or not. I'm afraid you have to go."

I nodded once, not trusting myself to speak. All right, they hadn't let me in... where was I to go now? My mind was racing through the possibilities as I turned to go.

Just before I was about to leap onto the first of many ledges, leaving the Tribe cats behind, I heard falsely honeyed tones. "Bye-bye, killer," the she-cat mewed sweetly.

I looked back into her leering face, my paws were trembling, I was shaking, my vision was clouding over with red - all I could see were her cold grey eyes - was this normal, was this bad? _How dare she call me a killer? I had put that behind me - stupid she-cat - I would make sure she never said anything again -_

The last thing I heard was a distant yowl, as something bright, bright like the stars I didn't believe in flashed before my eyes. Then all was dark and still.


	5. Chapter 5

The scent of blood was on my tongue, a scent I knew only too well. Alarm shot through me - what had happened? The last thing I remembered was anger, and then light, and then darkness... oh no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

I opened my eyes. The golden she-cat's face, with glassy eyes and a blood-stained muzzle, stared back at me, just a whisker-length away from my nose.

With a yowl of terror, I scrambled backwards, trying to put as much distance as possible between myself and the corpse. In response, my back legs throbbed, and my back felt like it was on fire. I twisted my head around, trying to figure out what had happened to me - had I killed? Again? But where did these scratches come from? I never got hurt when I killed... and why couldn't I remember anything?

There were gashes running through my fur, some still bleeding, all matted with dried blood. With a sick feeling, I slowly looked around me, at the flattened grass and the three bodies lying in a perfect circle around where I was standing. The golden she-cat. The grey tom, his sky-blue eyes still looking at me accusingly. And one of the to-bes, even smaller in death than he was in life.

My stomach heaved, and I had to turn around and vomit out the contents onto the ground. Almost nothing came out; I couldn't remember when I had last eaten. What had made me do this? I had sworn to never kill again, but why had I gotten so furious that I killed three cats without even realising it?

Had I gone insane?

My head was spinning with exhaustion and hunger, and my stomach felt like it was twisted in a knot. I stepped backwards, shaking like a leaf in the wind. I had to get away from here. Sooner or later, someone was bound to find this... bloodbath... and I couldn't let myself get caught.

My back paw stepped on nothing - on air. I had forgotten the cliff edge behind me. Too late - I lost my balance, and only managed to keep from slipping off the edge by scrabbling on the stone with my claws. I almost cried out for help, but then remembered that any cat that saw me would sooner kill me than help me escape.

Oh stars, what have I done?

I was panting. No one was going to save me, so I had to save myself. With a titanic effort, I hauled myself back onto the edge of the cliff, and onto my feet. Almost at once, I collapsed, exhausted and in pain, but at least I wasn't lying, broken and dead, at the bottom - at least I wasn't like that poor little to-be, his expression so innocent and scared as blood continued to slowly pool out of the gash in his throat. I struggled against nausea again. Where had the other to-be gone? I didn't know, and as long as he wasn't dead, I didn't care. As long as he was safe, and far away from me.

I looked around at the dead cats again, and then at the darkening sky. Already, several ravens were circling far, far, overhead, probably waiting for me to leave so that they could feast on the still-warm meat. I immediately regretted the thought as my stomach growled with hunger.

"I will NEVER eat cat meat!" I yowled to the dark birds, death's companions. "I'd rather die than be like you!"

Their only response was a cacophony of caws that sounded like mocking laughter.

"I have to get out of here," I muttered. Without further ado, I began the descent down the cliff face, jumping from ledge to ledge without really thinking about what I was doing. Where did I go? Away from here. What could I eat? Anything but my kills. Where would I sleep? Not anywhere near the ravens, that's for sure...

The sky was a deep, dark blue by the time I reached the bottom. The sun set quickly in the autumn... the Tribe of Falling Autumn... what if they found me? I had to get away from here as quickly as possible.

But my scratches and bites and sprains and whatever the Tribe cats managed to do to me before I murdered them made me collapse onto the ground almost as soon as I reached the first grassy hill. I couldn't go on... I couldn't... I had to sleep... maybe someone would find me and kill me in my sleep... it was all that I deserved.

I fell asleep to the cries of the ravens, far above me.


	6. Chapter 6

I awoke when the sky was grey with the first light of dawn. The first thing that I noticed was that my fur was wet; the second, that the ravens were gone. I stood and shook myself off, trying not to think of the gruesome murders I had no memory of committing.

What to do now? Run away, again? The thought made me pause. I knew of many places I could go to hide away, live out the rest of my miserable days... alone, depressed, with no company, as any sensible cat would chase me out. Not exactly the life an aging she-cat would hope for.

My other alternative was to... dare I think it?... to end my life. A cold shiver went through me as I stared, unseeingly, ahead of me, contemplating suicide. But did I really want to do that? To end any chance for redemption?

_There's nothing you have to live for, _a little voice inside me said. It sounded eerily like Spider's cool mew. _You might as well join the stars that you don't believe in._

But it isn't too late to try again, I argued with myself. Is it?

_Yes, is it? _The voice echoed. _You are old, and unlikely to change your ways. Besides, murdering has left its mark on you. Look at how fast the Tribe identified you as a killer. No cat would take you in._

It's worth a try, though...

_It isn't. Give up. Just go die, so you don't have to suffer anymore._

But I don't want to die! My instincts rebelled against the thought of ending myself, of stopping my heart, of never feeling the grass or the wind or the juicy meat of prey in my jaws...

Speaking of prey, I was hungry.

I shook out my lank fur again - noting, with little concern, that it was falling out in places - and set off with an ambling gait over the hills. Who knew, maybe I'd wander over to some fat mouse and sit on it until it died. Or maybe I'd take a tumble off a cliff. At this point, either one was fine for me.

* * *

The sun was well in the sky by the time I found a sick vole, stumbling around next to a small creek. I quickly ended its life and devoured the flesh in a few gulps, not caring that the meat might make me sick, too. My orientation was pretty messed up, but I was pretty sure that I was close to a mountain where StoneClan lived. Yes, there - the icy cap glinted in the distance, as I squinted at it. My eyesight wasn't that great either, but I could get there by nightfall, I thought. Well, best to start now.

* * *

Peace at last.

I scrambled onto what must have been the hundredth ledge, trying not to look down at the dizzying drop below me.

No cats in sight, the wind whistling all around me, grey stone and black sky - I'd never seen anything more beautiful.

* * *

It must be close to morning now. I slept on a random ledge for a few hours, but soon woke to resume my journey to nowhere. My five hundredth ledge loomed up above me, and I jumped up, drawing on my last reserves of strength. My tongue was dry and my fur was matted and my paws left smears of blood like roses blooming on the rough stone.

* * *

An eagle screeched somewhere above me. Startled, I slipped, and immediately righted myself so that I flew with my legs spread out. I closed my watering eyes instinctively, feeling strangely soothed as the faint gurgling of the river at the bottom of the canyon grew louder and louder. Oh, how pleasant would be the ending of my miserable existence.

* * *

And stars, icy stars, were all I saw forevermore.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so, so much for reading, everyone! I hope you enjoyed my story!**

**~Fire**


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